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The Power of the Holy Spirit - Part 5

4. The Holy Spirit will give us the power to experience the FULLNESS of God.

Some of you may be saying, “What does that mean?” Here is what I have noticed; in the church and in our country, I believe so many people have reduced Christianity down to the lowest common denominators. Basically, Christianity for so many people today is, “Yeah, I believe in God, yeah, I did the Jesus pray thing, check the box there, maybe got baptized, I joined a church, I read the Bible every now and then, and then maybe kind of a lot, sort of and I try to be a good person.”

When you look at the lives of so many Christians, what you see is something that really doesn’t look much different than the rest of the world. Still hurting, still addicted, still filled with worries, still broke, still struggling, still angry, still living with little mercy or grace, still struggling in marriages, no real faith, no real victory. Why? Why? No power.

So many people today don’t really understand who God is and what he has for us.

Paul prayed for the believers in Ephesus, and I pray this prayer for our church family.

(Ephesians 3:16-19)  “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

If you have ever wondered, “Is there more to Christianity? There has got to be more than not doing the big-bad stuff and trying to do some good stuff.” The answer is yes, there is! So much more!

There is the reality of the constant presence of God through the Holy Spirit that you can have with you, this peace that surpasses all human ability to understand that you can manifest the fruits of the Spirit; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self control; that you can be led by the Spirit and walk by faith and not by sight, that you can have a joy unspeakable, that you can have a supernatural strength. That you can be rooted and established in the very secure love of Christ and you can live a supernatural life in this very natural world. You can never do it by your own strength, but there is another power that is available to you.

Call on him and watch the Holy Spirit fill you, strengthen you, comfort you, guide you, counsel you and be your intercessor, as he empowers you to live the life that you are incapable of living on your own; one that will bring glory and honor to God in Heaven.

To hear and audio version of this message, visit our website.

The Power of the Holy Spirit - Part 4

3.  He will give you power to have HOPE in a HOPELESS world.

This thought, and this scripture for many of you, will be life today. Let the Spirit speak directly to you.

(Romans 15:13)  “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may OVERFLOW WITH HOPE by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

So many people today have very limited hope.

If we put our hope in anything besides God, our hope is going to be limited.

If we put our hope in ourselves, we have limited hope.

If we put our hope in other people, our hope is limited.

If we put our hope in our giftings or talents, our talents will only take us so far.
Our hope is limited, because it is not put in an unlimited God.

BUT.....if we put our hope in God, he can cause us to overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.  

If you are hurting today, if you are afraid, put your hope in God, and let him overflow in your life with joy and hope by the spirit.

Let’s say that you lose your job, continue to put your hope in God, and he will be your provider.
If you find out that someone you love is sick, continue to put your hope in God and let the Holy Spirit be your healer.

If you find yourself worried about tomorrow, put your hope in God and let the Holy Spirit be your comforter.

If you are hurting today, put your hope in God. Those who hope in anything else have a limited hope. But, the Bible says:

(Romans 15:13) “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace, as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope, by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

 
If you are hurting today, I pray that that verse becomes so real to you, that even though you don’t see anything that you can have hope in, that you can overflow in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Put your hope in God.

Continued Tomorrow

To hear and audio version of this message, visit our website.

The Power of the Holy Spirit - Part 3

2.  He will give you power when we are WEAK.

(Romans 8:26 )“And the Holy Spirit helps us in our distress. For we don't even know what we should pray for, nor how we should pray. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.”

So many people read this scripture and focus on the "groanings that cannot be expressed with words."  But please, don't miss the real message of this scripture.  The Holy Spirit prays for us when we are weak. Here is the deal.

Many of you have got your gloves on, got your post hole diggers, and don’t realize that where you are weak is where God’s Spirit is made perfect.

When we get to the end of our strength, the Holy Spirit helps us step up to the plate.

When I grew up, I did well in school; but, only because I studied like crazy. When it came to reading comprehension, I was like as low as I could get. Reading was so difficult, I promise you, I did not read an entire book all the way through high school! I couldn’t do it.  It created a real problem when I got to college.

I had this one class called Apocalyptic Lit - doesn’t that sound like a fun class - and the class called for reading 7 books and presenting an oral report on each book every two weeks.  This was on top of the fact that in nearly each of the classes I was required to read at least one book! I was dead!

About the same time I had the honor of meeting the bishop or president of my denomination.  I got to set in his office and talk to him because one of my friends was basically an adopted member of his family.  I will never forget the book case that went the entire length of his very large office.  It was one of those with the ladders that moves.  This man was like in his late 70’s at this time and he was the coolest, hipist old guy I had ever met. 

I asked him what it was that kept him so current.  I will never forget his responses.  “I read 3-4 books a month.”  I said, “I can’t do that.”  He sat next to me and asked why.  I told him of my trouble comprehending what I read.  He said, “I had that trouble too.  But then I read this...”  He opened up his Bible and read that verse.  He told me the Holy Spirit could help me in my weakness. 

We prayed.  I said okay, I don’t know if this is going to work or not, but I am a weak reader. Holy Spirit, help me!  I can’t explain this but from that day until now I read at least 3 books a month. 

At that moment, something changed and all of a sudden, I went from being unable to read, to having almost a photographic memory.

It is a supernatural gift that was not there for 20 years or so of my life, and now it’s one of the most valuable tools I have in ministry.
 
That was something the Holy Spirit did for me in my weakness and I believe with everything in me that wherever you are weak today, the Holy Spirit can be strong.

You may be a parent and you are going, “I don’t know what to do with these kids, they are too much!” The Holy Spirit can give you wisdom; ask him, ask him!

You may have a presentation coming up at work and you are like, “I am the worst in front of people, I panic, I freeze!” Ask the Holy Spirit, and where you are weak, he can be strong. You may have a sin in your life that you just cannot overcome and you have been taking the post hole digger and working at it and say, “I just can’t, I just, ahhh!” The Holy Spirit of God can give you power where you are weak. Call on him!
 
Look at what the Bible says, I love this; 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, this was Paul and he was complaining about this thorn or problem that he kept facing over and over and over.  He prayed, “God, take it away, take it away, take it away!” And here is what God says;

(2 Corinthian 12:9-10) “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness, therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. For where I am weak, then I am strong.”

It is the power of the Holy Spirit that will give you power to share Christ boldly and He will give you power where you are weak.

The Power of the Holy Spirit - Part 2

I want to show you 4 distinct qualities that the power of the Holy Spirit wants to give to all believers.

1.  The Holy Spirit gives us the power to SHARE Christ BOLDLY.

Look at the words of Paul, 1 Corinthians 2, verses 4 and 5; he said this,

(1 Corinthians 2:4-5)  “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, (I am not the best speaker around) but, my message came with the demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but instead on God’s power.”

He said, I am not the most eloquent speaker around, but when you saw me show up, the power of the Holy Spirit was there. And quite honestly, that is what I rely on every single week. I believe with everything in me, that I am not the best at anything.  I am just me.  I am not the smartest by far, but God can take my words and by the power of the Holy Spirit customize them in a way that speak directly into your life.

It is the power of the Holy Spirit that enables us to communicate the message of Christ in a life-transforming way.

A young preacher, was scared to death trying to preach. Afterwards, this older lady came up to him and said, “Young man, that sermon wasn’t half bad!” The young man said, “Thank you!” Trying to be humble, he said, “It was actually all the Holy Spirit.” She said, “Young man, if it was all the Holy Spirit it would have been really good! I said it wasn’t half bad!”

Probably a lot of truth to that! If you have ever felt uncomfortable, under qualified, not good enough, lacking wisdom, unable to share your faith; there is nobody that understands better than I do!

See, I use to struggle with parts of this preaching and ministry thing.  As a young preacher, I was so bad at that closing and prayer part, that I would always hand it off and have my dad or someone else do it! All the time! I was scared to death to invite people to follow Christ! I tried; no one ever did, ever! I prayed for people but nothing seemed to happen.  So, I just assumed, I am horrible at this!

So, one day (and let me say here, that all of my ministry friends have a story like this),my dad, come up to me and he said, “John, why don”t you ever do the invitation and ministry at the end?” I said, “Well, because I am horrible at it.  I am just not any good.” He said, “Son, I believe that the Spirit wants me to pray for you and ask the Holy Spirit to give you power to do that well.” He said, “Can I pray for you?” I said, “Sure, you can pray for me.”  Inside my head I knew nothing was going to happen.  I mean you either have the soul saving, life changing, altar calling gift or you don’t and knew I didn’t have it.  How’s that faith for a preacher?

So dad, put his hands on me and prayed. Now, I can’t explain this, but, you can read in the Bible, there is something that happens with the laying on of hands.

You see, over and over again in the Bible, when a godly person lays hands on someone else and prays, there is something that takes place in the spirit world that I just can’t explain.

He laid hands on me and he prayed. Now, sometimes when people pray, you’ll feel something, other times, you won’t feel anything. Bottom line is that it doesn’t matter what you feel, it matters what God does. But, on that particular moment, I did very much feel the presence of the Holy Spirit. “God, give John the ability to do this well.” In fact a few years ago someone came up to me after a service I was speaking at and asked to pray for me and prayed, “The Spirit sent me tonight to pray for a future leader who would be unusual and who would reach thousands of people.”  (I like the sound of that!)  He continued, “There is going to be power flow from your hands.  Healing is going to flow as you pray for people.  When you pray for them the spirit will back up your message and people who had a hard time sensing God will feel his Spirit through you.”

How do I know that something happened that day?  Because I started praying for people.  I have done what was done to me.  I make it a point to ask in every message if there is anyone who needs to receive Christ.  I touch people and pray for them.

I’ve never backed down since; because, the Holy Spirit gives me power to share Christ, and he will give you that same power if you will trust him.

You watch, this week, you will be in a conversation, those of you that are believers, and you will feel prompted. This person needs God and you’ve got an opening, and you might hesitate. Follow the prompting of the Spirit. You may say, “But I don’t know what to say.” You just do it and you watch what happens.

You may come to a point where you are just like, “Do you mind if I pray for you?” And you are like going, “Oh no! I’m no good at prayers! And the next thing you know, you are praying and all of a sudden this prayer comes out of nowhere and you’ve got faith for it and what is that? That is the Holy Spirit coming upon you, a regular person, in power to give you the power to share Christ boldly!

You can access that very same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead, he is available to you, and he will come upon you in power when you trust him.

Number one: he will give you power to share Christ boldly.

The Power of the Holy Spirit - Part 2

I want to show you 4 distinct qualities that the power of the Holy Spirit wants to give to all believers.

1.  The Holy Spirit gives us the power to SHARE Christ BOLDLY.

Look at the words of Paul, 1 Corinthians 2, verses 4 and 5; he said this,

(1 Corinthians 2:4-5)  “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, (I am not the best speaker around) but, my message came with the demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but instead on God’s power.”

He said, I am not the most eloquent speaker around, but when you saw me show up, the power of the Holy Spirit was there. And quite honestly, that is what I rely on every single week. I believe with everything in me, that I am not the best at anything.  I am just me.  I am not the smartest by far, but God can take my words and by the power of the Holy Spirit customize them in a way that speak directly into your life.

It is the power of the Holy Spirit that enables us to communicate the message of Christ in a life-transforming way.

A young preacher, was scared to death trying to preach. Afterwards, this older lady came up to him and said, “Young man, that sermon wasn’t half bad!” The young man said, “Thank you!” Trying to be humble, he said, “It was actually all the Holy Spirit.” She said, “Young man, if it was all the Holy Spirit it would have been really good! I said it wasn’t half bad!”

Probably a lot of truth to that! If you have ever felt uncomfortable, under qualified, not good enough, lacking wisdom, unable to share your faith; there is nobody that understands better than I do!

See, I use to struggle with parts of this preaching and ministry thing.  As a young preacher, I was so bad at that closing and prayer part, that I would always hand it off and have my dad or someone else do it! All the time! I was scared to death to invite people to follow Christ! I tried; no one ever did, ever! I prayed for people but nothing seemed to happen.  So, I just assumed, I am horrible at this!

So, one day (and let me say here, that all of my ministry friends have a story like this),my dad, come up to me and he said, “John, why don”t you ever do the invitation and ministry at the end?” I said, “Well, because I am horrible at it.  I am just not any good.” He said, “Son, I believe that the Spirit wants me to pray for you and ask the Holy Spirit to give you power to do that well.” He said, “Can I pray for you?” I said, “Sure, you can pray for me.”  Inside my head I knew nothing was going to happen.  I mean you either have the soul saving, life changing, altar calling gift or you don’t and knew I didn’t have it.  How’s that faith for a preacher?

So dad, put his hands on me and prayed. Now, I can’t explain this, but, you can read in the Bible, there is something that happens with the laying on of hands.

You see, over and over again in the Bible, when a godly person lays hands on someone else and prays, there is something that takes place in the spirit world that I just can’t explain.

He laid hands on me and he prayed. Now, sometimes when people pray, you’ll feel something, other times, you won’t feel anything. Bottom line is that it doesn’t matter what you feel, it matters what God does. But, on that particular moment, I did very much feel the presence of the Holy Spirit. “God, give John the ability to do this well.” In fact a few years ago someone came up to me after a service I was speaking at and asked to pray for me and prayed, “The Spirit sent me tonight to pray for a future leader who would be unusual and who would reach thousands of people.”  (I like the sound of that!)  He continued, “There is going to be power flow from your hands.  Healing is going to flow as you pray for people.  When you pray for them the spirit will back up your message and people who had a hard time sensing God will feel his Spirit through you.”

How do I know that something happened that day?  Because I started praying for people.  I have done what was done to me.  I make it a point to ask in every message if there is anyone who needs to receive Christ.  I touch people and pray for them.

I’ve never backed down since; because, the Holy Spirit gives me power to share Christ, and he will give you that same power if you will trust him.

You watch, this week, you will be in a conversation, those of you that are believers, and you will feel prompted. This person needs God and you’ve got an opening, and you might hesitate. Follow the prompting of the Spirit. You may say, “But I don’t know what to say.” You just do it and you watch what happens.

You may come to a point where you are just like, “Do you mind if I pray for you?” And you are like going, “Oh no! I’m no good at prayers! And the next thing you know, you are praying and all of a sudden this prayer comes out of nowhere and you’ve got faith for it and what is that? That is the Holy Spirit coming upon you, a regular person, in power to give you the power to share Christ boldly!

You can access that very same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead, he is available to you, and he will come upon you in power when you trust him.

Number one: he will give you power to share Christ boldly.

The Power of the Holy Spirit - Part 1

Thanks for joining me today as we continue our study of the Holy Spirit.  The goal of this study is to build a biblical foundation for our partnership with the Spirit of God. 

Let's review a little foundational information from last week briefly.

We learned that the word “Sprit” in the Old Testament is the word “ruwach,” which means a WIND, a BREATH, a violent exhalation.

In the New Testament, the Greek word translated as “Spirit” is the word “pneuma” which means  a current of air, a BLAST of breath, and a strong BREEZE.

What these two words help us to understand is that the Holy Spirit is like the wind of God.  Sometimes he comes as gentle breeze, other times he is a mighty, rushing wind of power.  When issues have turned up the heat in our lives he is the comforting breeze that cools us.  When we are faced with issues that we don’t know how to handle or decisions and we don’t know what to do, he is our counselor who gives wisdom and direction. 

In the Old Testament, we see the power of the Spirit working in countless different ways.  The Holy Spirit gave Joseph skills to rule over Egypt (Acts 7:9-10).  The Spirit gave Joshua the ability to lead Israel (Deuteronomy 34:9).  One time the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon and gave him power to lead the Abiezrites into battle (Judges 6:34).    In Judges 14:6, as hard as it is to believe, the Spirit of the Lord came on Samson, in power, so that he tore a lion apart with his bare hands.  Check out the words of Samuel to Saul, the first king of Israel:

(1 Samuel 10:6) “The Spirit of the Lord will come upon you in power and you will prophesy with them and you will be changed into a different person.”

That is a pretty powerful statement - The Spirit of the Lord (which is the Holy Spirit) will come upon you in power and will change you into a different person.  WOW!  I remember how I use to be. 

There was a time in my life when I had a very short temper and had very little grace with people.  I was angry and led by my emotions.  Thus, I spent most of my life without accomplishing much - because to accomplish something in this world takes working with people and I had trouble there because of my anger. 

BUT then I experienced the power of the Spirit of God and became a different person.  In fact, one of the greatest compliments ever given to me was when Shandra, recognized the change in me and opened her heart to me and we fell in love.  Another great blessing was when Heather Prough - someone who has been with me for years told me one day, “You don’t get angry anymore.  I have noticed that.”  I can’t tell you what that meant to me.  What was the difference, I received the power of the Holy Spirit in my life. 

I am curious, how many of you that are Christians would say, “I know someone who is a Christian that seems to have more Spiritual power than I do?”  How many of you would say, “I know someone like that?”  Yea, a lot of us do.

Well, the answer could be that.....they have more “power” than you do. 

Power is misunderstood in the church.  We think of it in terms of authority, dictatorship, ego - all the things that bring us dictators in the world have a way of seeping into the church as well.  

But true power is displayed in our ability to serve, to be offended, to be mistreated, to be misunderstood and yet maintain our purpose!  That’s what Jesus did.  He who had power and the right to rule and to dictate came not to be served but to serve.  He could do this because he was completely surrendered to the Holy Spirit.

Likewise, I think there are many people who are more surrendered to the “power” that is available to them by God, through the Holy Spirit than others.

My wife and I bought a house that is very special to me - it was my childhood home.  Some may frown at that but I just have a lot of memories tied up in this home.  The bedroom that my daughters are now in is the room where I found Jesus to be real and personally freeing.  It’s a small home that we decided to fix up and it needed both some updating and remodeling.  One thing the home lacked was a fenced in yard.  Well, shortly after the birth of our son, Johnathan, we decided that we needed to fence in the yard. 

Well, I have never let the lack of knowing how to do something keep me from making a mess of things.  So I jumped online and figured out how you are “supposed” to do a fence.  I remember borrowing a post hole digger from some friends.  I got out there with my gloves on and after marking where I thought the posts needed to go, I started banging the post hole digger into the ground. 

Unlike today, the ground was very hard since it was the middle of summer and we were in one of those Oklahoma droughts.  I remember banging and banging and digging and digging but I just could not make any headway. So I called the most handy man I knew at the time - my father in law.  He had a post hole digger so he came over to assist his poor excuse for a son-in-law in this effort. 

Needless to say we worked, and worked and worked until my fingers started to blister and that was after only one whole was dug out to the right depth!  I thought man, this is horrible.  Shortly after that another very handy friend called.  He asked me what was up and I told him - the blisters on my hands are up!

He laughed and told me to go get something called an auger.  Well, I loved the name but had no idea what it was.  So my father in law and I got up there and rented one for $25.00.  If you don’t know what these are, imagine a cork screw on steroids!  We cranked this thing up and once we figured out how to use it properly, we had all the holes dug in less time than I spent on the first hole!  I felt like Tim the Tool man Taylor!  To this day when I look at those posts I am so thankful that I now know about augers!  I might still be digging if that thing had not come along!

Christians today, all over the world put on their little work gloves, and they take out their post hole diggers and they say, “We are going to live the Christian life!”  And in their own strength, they strive and fight and battle and do not get very far.  Why?  Because they are trying to live the Christian life in their own strength, when there is a far greater power available.

(Romans 8:11 NLT)  “The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you.  And just as he raised Christ from the dead, he will give life to your mortal body by this same Spirit living within you.”

YOU CAN BE FILLED WITH THE POWERFUL SPIRIT OF GOD AND YOU CAN HAVE THE ABILITY TO LIVE A SUPERNATURAL LIFE IN A VERY NATURAL WORLD.

(Acts 1:4 NLT) "Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you what he promised. Remember, I have told you about this before."

So here Jesus says the Father has a promise for us.  And then said that he told them about it before this statement.  What can we find?

(John 16:7 NLT)   “...it is actually best for you that I go away, because if I don't, the Counselor won't come. If I do go away, he will come because I will send him to you.”

So now he says the Promise is known as "the Counselor."  Does he tell us who this Counselor is?

(John 14:26 NLT)  “But when the Father sends the Counselor as my representative—and by the Counselor I mean the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I myself have told you.”

So the Promise of the Father is that He would send us a Counselor and the Counselor is identified by Christ as The Holy Spirit!!!

(Acts 1:5 NLT) "John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit."

The Greek word translated as “baptized” is the word “baptizo” which means to IMMERSE, overwhelm, overcome. 

It’s important to note what Jesus is saying here and what he is not.  He is not just saying you will be filled with the Holy Spirit.  No....You are going to be “baptizoed”.  You are going to filled, overwhelmed, overcome.  You are going to be immersed in this power Holy Spirit which is God in Spirit form.

What’s happen to you when you allows the power of the Holy Spirit into your life?

(Acts 1:8)  “But when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will receive power...”

This word, “power” comes from the Greek word, “dunamis.”  We get our word dynamite, from that word.  It means a FORCE, miraculous power, literally the EXPLOSIVE power of God.

Now what will you be able to do that you could not do otherwise? 

(Acts 1:8)  “But when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will receive power and tell people about me everywhere.”

Jesus says to his disciples, “You are going to be empowered by the Spirit to take my message into all the world.” You may say, “Well, what’s the big deal about that?” You have to remember exactly who Jesus was talking to. He was talking to his disciples, who for the last 3 years, couldn’t get much right. Never one time did Jesus say to his disciples, “Man you guys have such great faith, I can’t even believe I am here with you!”  He never said, “You have failed me for the last time. I am through with you!”

Over and over again, he said, “Don’t you guys get it?” You are with me and yet you still have such little faith!”

Peter said, “Jesus, I am with you all the time, I will never leave you!” And then, right before the cross, 3 times, Peter denies Jesus!

At the cross, after Jesus had already said, “I am going to give my life,” only 1 of the 12 showed up, John; the others were hiding, cowering in fear!

Jesus died, rose from the grave and where were his fearless disciples when he returned? Locked in a little room, scared to death of the religious people!

Jesus comes in, says, “I am here!” They don’t believe it, the women had told us, but we still didn’t believe! Thomas, who heard from the other 10 that he was back, and still saw him, said, “I still don’t believe!” Until he touched the scars.

Don’t ever forget that Jesus looked at these very ordinary people - the ones that the religious people said weren’t good enough or worth their time and Jesus said, “You will have power to take this message all over the world.” 

And here we are at this moment, declaring the Lordship of Christ!

Why? Because the Holy Spirit came upon very ordinary people and gave them the power to take this message all over the world. That same powerful Spirit is available today to all who believe!

Today, I encourage you to take off your little gloves, put down your little post hole diggers, and stop doing the Christian life in your own limited strength and surrender to the unlimited power of the Holy Spirit. 

Continued tomorrow.

To hear and audio version of this message, visit our website.

The Person of the Holy Spirit - Part 5

3.  The Holy Spirit will CONVICT you.

(John 16:8 NIV)  When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment.

Today, there are those of you who are being convicted by the Spirit of God right now.  May be something in your life is not as it should be and all of the sudden you are feeling this sense of “I shouldn’t do that.”  Why are you convicted?  Because that is the Spirit of God convicting you.

There are others of you that are being drawn to God right now and you don’t know why.  Maybe you are not even a church person, or a Bible guy, but you are just drawn to God right now.  That is the Holy Spirit convicting you of your need for God. 

Sometimes people will say, “John, who was the person that God used the most to draw you towards God?”  The person God used the most is the person of the Holy Spirit.  I was drawn during a difficult time in my life to open and read The Bible - a book I grew up with but didn’t really value. What I did, I do not advise.  I remember I just opened the Bible and decided to read the first scripture that caught my eye.  The Bible open at Galatians 5:1 and what I read there jumped off the page at me.  I heard it in my heart as if someone was shouting directions to me from the dark.  To this day it is one of my favorite verses in the Bible.

(Galatians 5:1 NIV)  It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.  Stand firm, then and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

At that time in my life when I read that scripture, I was bound by an addiction I could not control - a cycle I could not break.  I had tried everything.  I grew up around the church and the Spirit of God but I was bound away in a dark corner.  No one else knew - but I did.  Then the Holy Spirit of God came to me.  He knew how to bring freedom to my life.  See, I needed not only Christ’s salvation but I needed the living presence of God in my life.  From that day till now, my life has never been the same.  Struggles, yes.  Ups and downs, yes.  But the same - no way.

(John 16:13 NLT) When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth.

The Spirit of Truth came to me.  Spoke into my life.  Brought freedom to me!  It was the spirit of God that caused the words on a thin sheet of paper to become the keys that unlocked my heart and life.

There are those of you that have been reading this message this week and you are under that conviction.  You are being drawn to God and don’t know why.  It’s because the Holy Spirit is with you, right now, at your computer.  He is here. 

You can surrender to him, or you can fight him off.  But, let me warn you, don’t fight him too long because you don’t want your heart to grow cold to the gentle voice and love and wooing of the Spirit of God that would draw you to Himself.

God the Father loves you so much he sent God the Son, Jesus, who lived a sinless life, died and rose again so you could know him, be empowered by him through the Holy Spirit, to live a life that would honor and please and glorify God.

Father, I ask that you Holy Spirit would do a work that goes beyond any words of explanation that I have, that your Holy Spirit which is present right now, I ask you to do a work in our hearts that only you can do.

As you are praying today, some of you, you are gonna recognize right now, that you are doing life pretty much apart from the Spirit of God. You may be a believer in Jesus, you go to church, you know the Spiritual stuff, but you look at your life and say, I don’t see Spiritual power, I don’t see victory.

I want a more Spirit-filled life. Stop right now and just ask the Holy Spirit to come into your life.  Read the prayer below and believe it.  The Bible says when two agree they will have what they ask.  When you pray these words I have typed we are in agreement.

God, I recognize that I am living a spiritless life.  I believe that your spirit is real.  I believe that You died on the cross in the form of Jesus so that the sin in my life could be removed, that I could be considered holy before you and be qualified to receive your spirit.  So come, Lord.  I receive You into my life.  I receive your presence.  Walk with me.  Speak to me.  Comfort me.  Counsel me.  Convict me.  Change me.  In the name of Jesus I pray.

If you prayed that prayer with me today, send me an email.  I want to pray with you and send you a copy of this entire series.  God bless you. 

Next week, The Power of the Holy Spirit.

The Person of the Holy Spirit - Part 4

2.  The Holy Spirit will COUNSEL you.

He is a counselor or guide.  When you don’t know what to do and he can direct you.  When you are struggling to find truth, He actually is the spirit of Truth.  Jesus said it this way...

(John 16:13 NLT) When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth.

When you don’t know what to do, start praying and the Holy Spirit can give you direction, he can give you wisdom, he can give you discernment.

I remember one time when I was ministering on the local Praise The Lord TV program.  I was on one end of the studio and the stage for the interviews was on the other.  I had this ear piece in.  I could hear the director speaking to me.  Giving me directions.  “Move over to your left.”  “You are up in 1 minute.”  “Your tie is crooked.”  “Okay, here we go...”

Being on TV is a wonderful experience but it would be really strange if I could not hear the director in my ear....leading me through the whole experience.  She had to do everything in her power so that I didn’t make her look bad.  It was in both of our best interests for me to listen to her.

Are you aware of God’s presence and voice that is with you everyday?   This is what we mean when we say we should live a spirit-filled life.  We should live a life that is counseled and led by the Spirit. 

(Isaiah 30:21 NIV) Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it.”

The voice of the Spirit will comfort and he will counsel you.

Continued tomorrow.

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The Person of the Holy Spirit - Part 3

Those who open their hearts to the presence of God through His Spirit can expect The Holy Spirit to do 3 things.

1.  The Holy Spirit will COMFORT you.

John 15:14 in the King James Version interprets parakletos this way....

(John 15:14 KJV) And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another comforter, who will never leave you.

What he is speaking about in this scripture is the presence of God - The Holy Spirit.  And what is amazing to me, is there are those of you who are going through something very difficult right now.  I can promise you, that many of you at this moment, are sensing something because He - The Holy Spirit of God - is here right now.  Even though you are hurting, you can sense his Comfort.  He can comfort you with the peace that goes beyond all human understanding.  It is the Comforting presence of God...the Holy Spirit. 

A very dear friend and leader in my life several years ago went through a very dark time.     He and his wife lost their youngest son to a disease.  A life long minister, this man and his wife stood through the stress of something so tragic and yet they never wavered in their faith or commitment to God. 

When I asked him recently how he and his lovely wife were doing since the loss of their son, he talked about how the Holy Spirit and his comfort was more real now than it had ever been before in his life. 

Years removed from this heartache, I was with him on a missions trip. In one moment I asked him how he was able to come through something like that so strong.  He said, “John, it really wasn’t as hard as others think.  We listened to worship music and remembered the ways in which we led him to faith over the years.  We know where he is.  He wouldn’t want to come back now anyway.  The Holy Spirit comforts us everyday.”  He spoke of an other worldly peace in the midst of trouble.

(Phil. 4:6-7 NLT)  Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. If you do this, you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

God can do that for you through his Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit can comfort you - giving you strength to walk through difficulties if you will open your life to His Spirit.

Continued tomorrow.

To hear the audio version of this message, visit our website.

The Person of the Holy Spirit - Part 2

Second, some people are simply RESISTING the Holy Spirit. 

That would be many of you.  The Holy Spirit has prompted you, has led you to do something, and you have kind of said, “Oh, I don’t want to do that!”  Many of you, you’ve been about to do something that is not right and the Holy Spirit speaks to you.  The thought comes into your mind, “Hey, don’t do that...that’s wrong.”  You say, “But I want to.”  So you push the Holy Spirit away.

Sometimes the Holy Spirit prompts you to do something good; give something to bless someone else and you push that away and say, “I don’t want to do that!” 

Some of you have resisted the Holy Spirit for so long, that your hear becomes hardened to the gentle promptings of the Spirit of God.

Stephen, in the New Testament, a very young, courageous and bold believer was giving the religious leaders a good chewing right before they stoned him to death.  This is what he said to them in Acts 7:51.

(Acts 7:51 NLT) “You stubborn people! You are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? But your ancestors did, and so do you!”

Some of you may say, “Well, I am not sure that the Holy Spirit really prompts me, or moves me, or speaks to me.”  It could be that you have resisted the Holy Spirit so often your hearts have become hard. 

I have learned through failures, to try very hard not to resist when I feel like the Holy Spirit is prompting me.  Sometimes people will say, “John, how do you know if it the Holy Spirit prompting you verses your own thoughts?”  Well, I am a selfish person by nature.  If something is going to benefit me, I tend to think that is probably my own thoughts.  If there is something that doesn’t benefit me, it benefits others and might bring glory to God, I just assume that the Holy Spirit is speaking to me.

If I am convicted not to do something that I really know is wrong, I assume that is the Holy Spirit. If I am feeling led to do something that is going to be a blessing to others, I just assume that is the Holy Spirit.  If it’s not, I do something good and it wasn’t the Holy Spirit speaking to me, then the worst thing that happened was, I did something good.

So if it’s a blessing to others, I just tend to assume that it is the Holy Spirit speaking to me to do something unto others. 

There was a situation one time where I was going about my day taking care of the things that I have to take care of for my family and the church I was on staff with at the time.  While I was in between appointments, I was overcome with a thought to call a friend of mine.  I do not make it a habit to call ladies.  So I called her husband who was out of town on business just to let him know.  With his permission, I placed the call.  When she answered I informed her that I had been out and about and felt that I was suppose to give her a call.  She went silent on the phone.  Feeling awkwardness building, I told her that I was driving around and felt that God had placed her on my heart and I could not go on throughout my day without placing this phone call. 

She began to weep.  Her happy voice suddenly switched.  Pain was speaking now.  I had no idea until later that she was at that moment making a decision that could have really messed this up for her.  I keep up with these friends and praise God that they are together, solid and strong in their love for one another.  But what if I had not made that call?  What if I had just ignored it?

Guys, that is not something that can be manufactured.  That’s not something based in human efforts.  That was the Spirit of God speaking to me and I am so glad that I didn’t resist him.

But that is exactly what far too many people do - they resist the Holy Spirit.  Did you know that you can actually grieve the Holy Spirit, and your heart can become hardened. 

It is a little bit like my daughter, Madison.  She is at this stage in our family where she is struggling for attention.  Not that she doesn’t get any but she feels this competition with and older brother and sister to gain daddy and mommy’s attention.  We can be talking with one of the other children and she will come in and just start saying, “daddy...daddy...daddy...daddy.”  She will keep on going and going and going until I grant her my attention.  It’s annoying and cute all at the same time.

Now what would happen if I continually ignored her?  What if I never acknowledged her?  What would she do?  She would feel that she could not get my attention so she would move on to mom.  I would lose the ability to hear her cries for attention from continually tuning her out.

The Bible says that the Holy Spirit is a gentleman. He is not going to push himself on you. If you resist him long enough, your heart will grow so hard that you don’t recognize the promptings of the Spirit of God.

Why are so many people today living a spirit-less life?  Some are not aware.  Others have become so skilled at resisting the Holy Spirit. 

Continued tomorrow.

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